The CEO of the Renault Group, Luca de Meo, was direct this Tuesday when offering his opinion on the high price of electric cars. “The transition to the electric car now has to be paid for by people who have money, the rich, because those cars cost more money,” he said in his speech at the Anfac vehicle manufacturers forum.
In an intervention by videoconference, the manager has called for a European strategy for the implementation of the electric car and has accused the EU of “dancing the cha-cha” while other regions of the world such as China make decisive progress in the electrification of the automobile.
His forecast is that the prices of electric cars will end up falling, although currently “40% of their cost is in the batteries”, which “cannot be found everywhere.” It is for this reason that European industry cannot be “left behind”, he stated.
The president of the Anfac vehicle manufacturers association, Wayne Griffiths, has also been more critical than on other occasions of the policies to promote electric cars in Spain. “I am worried about Spain because sales of electric vehicles are insufficient. Things are not going well,” he stated.
The message from Seat’s CEO is that the large industrial deployment in factories must be accompanied by demand. “We manufacturers are risking billions on electrified cars that are then not sold in Spain,” he said.
He has also defended the approval of incentives and tax changes to encourage the purchase of electric cars. The aid from the Moves plan “is slow” and “citizens do not know that it exists.” At the same time, “The Treasury cannot turn its back on the fight against climate change,” she stated.
To complete the sector’s complaints, the general director of Anfac, José López-Tafall, has requested a new Moves plan to help the purchase of electric cars that improves the previous one, of whose 1 billion budget barely half has been used. “The current plan ends on June 30 and has not worked,” he lamented. Manufacturers complain that the aid takes a year to receive and causes an unexpected tax to the Treasury.
The forcefulness of the top executives of Seat and Renault were up to the occasion because the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was in charge of closing the day. In his speech, he announced that “in the coming weeks” the Government will address a new aid plan for the purchase of electric vehicles.
“We are not satisfied” and “I think we can do a lot more.” “We are going to redouble our efforts” with the aim of “improving in the coming weeks the support program for the purchase of electric cars and charging points in Spain,” stated the President of the Government.
He has also highlighted the Government’s efforts in mobilizing funds to support the automotive industry. There are 6,000 million euros in total, he recalled, in which progress will be made this year with two new calls from the Perte VEC, one “in the coming months” and another before the end of the year for 1,200 million euros.
